I really don't mean to be racist but why?

Question

I've been reading those questions about racism. A lot of them are really extrem about blacks beeing criminals, lazy, etc. I don't think that's right of course.
Maybe it's because I'm caucasian that I don't get it, but why do you always reply with the history of slavery? It's been so many decades ago...you were not even born...I understand for your grand parents et great grand parents, but why our generation still give that one?

Answer 1

The reason is shame. Shame that it happened both from the victim and perpetrators' point of view. The victim is shamed because they believe they let it happen and the perpetrator that they did it. Shame always makes a victim feel powerless, and gives the illusion of power to the perpetrator. This manifests as the victim becoming the perpetrator (to others less powerful than themselves) and the perpetrator becomes the victim (succumbing to another's shaming, e.i. the religion, government, employer, etc).

This shame is passed down through the generations, resulting in generations raising the next one within the realms of shame. It is so easy to shame a child into submission and by the time they grow to adulthood the shame is so instilled they often forget what it is like not to be in the state of shame.

Shame also locks us into the victim mode, the place where we lose all sense of having free will. So, it is everyone else's fault that we can't have the life we want - this is the lie shame creates within our self-belief.

And, as a final bit of reality: There isn't one race, nationality, one culture, one religion, one community, one family on this planet that has not had shame as it's heritage. There are some with deeper shame-behaviours than others, but the whole of humanity is just now waking to the what shame is and how it manifests.

Answer 2

Slavery is a part of our history. It was replaced with Jim Crow and now we are still going through the aftermath of all that. Why is it that white people seem to have no problem talking about the Civil War and create statues and flags and etc to try to keep it alive but claim they don't understand why black people talk about slavery. In school history books, mostly all that is mentioned about black people is slavery and something to do with civil rights but we're not supposed to talk about it. Jim Crow was still alive in the 70s. It was not that long ago. When black people are treated the same as whites, we can let it go. Until that happens, I for one am going to talk about it. There are people alive today whose grandparents were slaves.

Answer 3

I think it is because it takes many generations to change people's thinking. Simply the enough time is not been passed yet. Remember the slavery ended less then 200 years ago. We still need more time to help them forget about the past.

As you know, the history of the black people have been very tramatic (even to recent 1960s).

Think of it this way.
It is like having an adult man who had very tramatic childhood experiences, say many violent experiences.
Even when he becomes a fully grown man, he still has severe anxiety problem because his childhood experiences made his brain to pump more adrenaline then the normal adults.

And... unfortunatelly, the black people still experience the negative views in general, even to this digital age we live in.

Answer 4

I don't understand it either. My ancestors had just gotten to this country before the Civil War. Those who fought fought for the North. I don't see how it's suddenly MY fault. Not only was I not personally involved, but my family was on the opposite side of the issue, and even if they had not been, how can you hold me accountable for the mistakes of people a hundred years ago?

Answer 5

yeah not being racist, but i completely understand! it is not our fault because our ancestors were clueless! our generation is not!

and that new song by ice cube about how everything that black people do wrong is white peoples faults is wrong!

anymore i think black people are more racist to whites... i mean on tv and also real life they always act like white people arent "cool" enough or that they are different.

i dont know about you, but when i see people, i dont see colors, i see people.

Haha Im glad someone had courage to ask this question! :)

(by the way, im not white or black, so outsider looking in.. i go to an all white school with only few blacks)

Answer 6

Whites kidnapped blacks, enslaved them, and denied them knowledge(cottonpicking excluded) for several hundred years. Then emancipation came, but whites still denied blacks the full scope of knowledge that is afforded to us. Then, about 50 years ago, we all started being nicer and more fair. Today, blacks in america are GENERALLY more poor, less educated, and about a million times more likely to make a lot of stupid mistakes. It is obvious why.

Answer 7

I'm white, and I always thought that if my grandfather had been a slave, and the people who enslaved him STILL acted prejudiced against me today, I'd probably still be pissed off, too. So being white, I try to treat black people as my equal, so this attitude will change one day. We all have to get over it by taking responsibility for our own attitude when dealing with each other. Peace.

Answer 8

I firmly believe that people who are racist are just ignorant inbred *******!!! Every culture, or religion, has certain negative qualities associated w/ them. This is mainly due to the fact there are small-minded people who like to take the few negative influences of a race and/ or culture and exploit it; even though such characteristics could hardly describe them as a whole. Such people, who are usually white extremists, are narrow-minded and fearful of those who are different then them,

Answer 9

they conviently do not mention that every nation in africa has a history of slavery. every person on earth has an ancestor that was a slave. every person on earth has an ancestor that owned slaves. it was the way of the world for several thousand years.

there is no way to ever accurately figure out who owes what to whom. everybody owes everybody.

the rest of the world has let it go and moved on. some of the blacks cant let it go.

Answer 10

technology may change the gadgets and the world. but the human is the last animal in the process of evolution. he cannot evolve more than what he has already done in these eons. it may take a little while for the world to start rolling.